Bresies in the Aeneid

FROM SAMUEL BUTLER’S TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD

BRISEIS

Briseis, fair as Venus, when she saw the mangled body of

Patroclus, flung herself upon it and cried aloud, tearing her

breast, her neck, and her lovely face with both her hands. Beautiful

as a goddess she wept and said, "Patroclus, dearest friend, when I

went hence I left you living; I return, O prince, to find you dead;

thus do fresh sorrows multiply upon me one after the other. I saw

him to whom my father and mother married me, cut down before our city,

and my three own dear brothers perished with him on the self-same day;

but you, Patroclus, even when Achilles slew my husband and sacked

the city of noble Mynes, told me that I was not to weep, for you

said you would make Achilles marry me, and take me back with him to

Phthia, we should have a wedding feast among the Myrmidons. You were

always kind to me and I shall never cease to grieve for you." BOOK 19